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Yep. My crystal ball said this set was probably coming, but the music issue was not revealed to me. Not even the mighty crystal ball can see everything.
Seriously though, all we can really do is hope for a miracle.
Gary "I'm not holding my breath that this set will include all the unnecessarily deleted cues" O.

I think David Lambert has it slightly incorrect in the TVSoDVD blurb. It looks to me as if it's going to be a 34-Disc set, with 33 DVDs and 1 audio CD (vs. 32 DVDs + 1 CD).

My initial guess was that the audio CD would probably be the same as the "Silva Screen" soundtrack CD that came out in circa 2001 (which is very good). But then I looked at the running time for the Silva CD and it's 47 minutes. And CBS/Paramount says that the CD being released on Nov. 1 contains 70 minutes of Fugitive music, which is much longer than the Silva CD.

I sure don't want to buy all those season sets again just for a bonus DVD and an extra 23 minutes of soundtrack music, though.

Oh, well....this is the eternal frustration of TV-on-DVD, isn't it? You've bought 8 sets of the show already, and you're caught between a one-armed man and a hard place in Stafford, Indiana, when confronted with an upcoming mega-set that's now staring you in the face.

Any serious fan of The Fugitive has already purchased all 4 seasons of this show. This set basically adds nothing except perhaps for an audio CD..which I already have as well. There is no word from the studio whether ORIGINAL music or Mark Heyes abomination will be on these.Therefore,this collection is basically a non starter for me.
However, a bluray...perhaps 3D collection...with the original music intact..now that would get me to open my wallet.

A fugitive moves on, through anguished tunnels of time, down dim streets, into dark corners. And each new day offers fear and frustration, tastes of honey and hemlock. But if there is a hazard, there is also hope. - Closing narration to THE FUGITIVE, "Death Is The Door Prize".

However, a bluray...perhaps 3D collection...with the original music intact..now that would get me to open my wallet.

Adding a fake 3D effect would be just as much an abomination as the unnecessary music replacements. Blu-Ray, unadulterated picture? Fine. 3D or cropped to 16:9? Bad.
Blu-Ray of any sort for this show is likely a pipe dream anyway. Best we can hope for is that they used the "mail away" version of the bungled S2 volume 1 discs instead of the retail version.

If anything, this set is going to be inferior to the standalone season sets. Wasn't season 1 largely untouched before they got terrified of the Capitol cues afterwards? I can hear Mark Heyes hard at work right now creating computer synthesized music that sounds completely out of place for season 1...
I sure hope the fans don't get their hopes up just to get dashed yet again. Heck, the lack of any word in that press release pretty much tells the tale right there. They'd be advertising from the get go if they had undertaken any substantial restoration of the original audio. That would be a huge selling point to get fans to double dip and get those that held off purchasing any of the flawed season sets into purchasing the series. The lack of any word pretty much seals its fate, if you ask me.
I just hope they don't screw up and fail to use the best version for each disc that they have thanks to the couple (If I remember right) replacement programs they had. Would be ashame if fans got stuck with an inferior version that wasn't necessary.

If CBS/P was going to put back in all the original/correct music, I have a feeling that would have been one of the first things we would have seen in the official CBS blurb put out today. But there's not a word about the music. That silence probably says a lot. Unless CBS is just being spiteful by putting out a mega-set with every note of the original '60s music intact, but then not saying word 1 about it in this initial press release:
"Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen), wrongly accused of murdering his wife, escapes custody while en route to Death Row. He now must elude police and Lt. Philip Gerard (Barry Morse), who is obsessed with his capture. So Kimble must constantly relocate and change his name, while he continues his quest to find the real killer: a one-armed man (Bill Raisch) he saw leave the scene of the crime.
"The critically acclaimed classic TV suspense drama, The Fugitive, available in a complete series box set! Includes all 4 seasons, 33 discs housed in a collectible package. Also features a bonus disc loaded with exclusive content, plus an audio CD with 70 minutes of music! TV Guide named The Fugitive the best dramatic series of the 1960s (1993 ranking). Nominated for 5 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Series (Lead) David Janssen (1964, 1967). Narrated by acclaimed actor William Conrad, and Executive Produced by Quinn Martin (The Streets of San Francisco, The Untouchables)."

BTW, IMO this cover art is hideous. You can't even read it. (Although the higher-resolution version will undoubtedly look better.) I wonder why they can't just use the "stenciled" Fugitive font? ~shrug~ ....

If anything, this set is going to be inferior to the standalone season sets. Wasn't season 1 largely untouched before they got terrified of the Capitol cues afterwards? I can hear Mark Heyes hard at work right now creating computer synthesized music that sounds completely out of place for season 1...
I sure hope the fans don't get their hopes up just to get dashed yet again. Heck, the lack of any word in that press release pretty much tells the tale right there. They'd be advertising from the get go if they had undertaken any substantial restoration of the original audio. That would be a huge selling point to get fans to double dip and get those that held off purchasing any of the flawed season sets into purchasing the series. The lack of any word pretty much seals its fate, if you ask me.
I just hope they don't screw up and fail to use the best version for each disc that they have thanks to the couple (If I remember right) replacement programs they had. Would be ashame if fans got stuck with an inferior version that wasn't necessary.

Yet, why would they offer this with a music CD if the original music wasn't present on the actual episodes? That doesn't make any sense either.

Originally Posted by Ethan Riley /forum/thread/313960/fugitive-comes-to-dvd-in-a-33-disc-set-on-nov-1st#post_3841390
Yet, why would they offer this with a music CD if the original music wasn't present on the actual episodes? That doesn't make any sense either.

Not a bad point, Ethan.
Because surely CBS isn't silly enough to put out a CD of the Heyes substitute music. (I can just envision hordes of fans flocking to the stores for a CD like that. LOL.)
However, to speculate: Perhaps CBS/Paramount felt that by providing an Audio CD of the original '60s music from the show, they were at least giving ardent fans of "The Fugitive" SOMETHING in the way of a totally unblemished soundtrack (although, of course, having the original music on a separate CD is still a far cry from having it in place on every episode on the 32 DVDs in the set).

Yet, why would they offer this with a music CD if the original music wasn't present on the actual episodes? That doesn't make any sense either.

Not a bad point and it seems logical enough.
But it also wouldn't be the first time something similar to this has happened over the years. I can recall several bonus features on various DVD releases over the years where the highlights they were showing from a specific episode as they're interviewing someone looked pristine, but that moment during the actual episode with the transfer they used looked horrible and clearly wasn't from the same source..
It isn't related to classic television on DVD, but I recall something similar with a classic videogame compilation from a few years ago. The music in a certain game was subbed out and replaced with a horrible replacement track, yet the selection menu, which had footage of each game as you select it, still had the original music intact when the clip for that game was played.
So it wouldn't be the first time where some strange decision by a publisher was made that didn't make any sense. But I suppose it gives some reason to still have a tiny shred of optimism, although I don't think Fugitive fans have much of that left at this point.

Not a bad point, Ethan. Because surely CBS isn't silly enough to put out a CD of the Heyes substitute music. (I can just envision hordes of fans flocking to the stores for a CD like that. LOL.) However, to speculate: Perhaps CBS/Paramount felt that by providing an Audio CD of the original '60s music from the show, they were at least giving ardent fans of "The Fugitive" SOMETHING in the way of a totally unblemished soundtrack (although, of course, having the original music on a separate CD is still a far cry from having it in place on every episode on the 32 DVDs in the set).

Well if they re-released the episodes with the Heyes music and then dangled a carrot by releasing the original music on the CD, it would adding insult to injury. If anything could start a full-scale Paramount boycott, that'd be it!

Yep. My crystal ball said this set was probably coming, but the music issue was not revealed to me. Not even the mighty crystal ball can see everything.
Seriously though, all we can really do is hope for a miracle.
Gary "I'm not holding my breath that this set will include all the unnecessarily deleted cues" O.

I'm sure all the series episode discs are exact clones of the individual sets (as these collections tend to be), but the real question is which discs will they be using for S2 V1: the original, heavily-altered ones (which were the only ones available at retail), or the mail-away replacements which at least restored part of the original music? If it's the latter, those who missed out on the mail-in exchange offer might be tempted to have a go at this.

That sci-fi-ish cover is pretty weird, to say the least. It'll probably be the same episodes as those already released, and the CD as consolation prize. -If not, I'd call it a real screw over, to deliberately make new music knowing the original would later come in a box-set. A couple of minutes of new interviews as extras likely won't be enough to make me buy it again, it'd have to be something really spectacular, like archival TV with Janssen or Morse. Maybe we'll get subtitles for the first three seasons at last, that could be the best we can hope for. Seriously, who's going to buy this if it contains what's already and still available anyway. Time will tell, but do wish they'd revitalize stalled titles rather.

I'm sure all the series episode discs are exact clones of the individual sets (as these collections tend to be), but the real question is which discs will they be using for S2 V1: the original, heavily-altered ones (which were the only ones available at retail), or the mail-away replacements which at least restored part of the original music? If it's the latter, those who missed out on the mail-in exchange offer might be tempted to have a go at this.

I think that, at least, they will use the replacement disks. The inclusion of the soundtrack CD suggests that they did pay for some of the music and figure they may as well put it on CD. One reason to not mention the music in the press release is that there may still be some music replacements even if most of the music is intact, and they do not want to put qualifiers in the press release. One question is whether the season 1 soundtrack will be as untouched as it the original releases. My guess is that tvshowsondvd will have more details about this set soon, but that we will really have to wait for the set to be released and it to be reviewed to get the full picture. BTW: I like the cover.